A photo of handcuffed Russian journalists from LifeNews channel, captured on Sunday by Kiev’s armed forces, has appeared on social networks. The two reporters were stopped at a checkpoint near Kramatorsk and contact with them has since been lost.

The same LifeNews journalists – Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko
– came under fire from Kiev's army last week, along with RT's
video agency crew.

On May 18, reporter Sidyakin and cameraman Saichenko were
performing their professional duties, covering events in
southeastern Ukraine, when they “went missing,” the
channel said in a statement.

“There is no communication with them,” the channel said.

The last time the crew established contact with the editorial
board was at around 09:50 GMT (13:50 Moscow time), when they
reached a checkpoint near the town of Kramatorsk. The only thing
Sidyakin managed to text was that “things look bad.”

After receiving the SMS message, the office immediately called
Sidyakin, who accepted the call, but could not speak. He kept the
phone connected, however, so that Moscow could hear that the
journalists were being interrogated.

Since the connection was lost, all attempts to get in touch with
the crew have been in vain.

A man who accompanied the LifeNews crew confirmed that the
journalists were being questioned by armed men, presumably the
Ukrainian military.

News Media Holding, which owns LifeNews, has appealed to Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, asking him to help with the
release of the journalists, the news outlet’s website reported.

Meanwhile, EuroMaidan has posted a photo of the journalists on
Twitter with a caption that reads, “Lifenews employees
captured near Kramatorsk.”

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has admitted that two Russian
journalists have been detained by Kiev's military forces near the
eastern city of Kramatorsk.

“As a result of a military action of the Ukrainian army,
unknown [men] have been found, disarmed and taken captive. The
people who identified themselves as Russian citizens and
journalists have been detained and will be interrogated,”
the ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian armed forces opened fire on the same LifeNews crew working
near the city of Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, where fighting is
ongoing between self-defense forces and Kiev’s army.

Correspondent Oleg Sidyakin used to work for LifeNews in Russia’s
regions. He reported on the Volgograd terrorist acts last
December. He was then sent to Ukraine to report on the political
crisis in the country. He also reported from Crimea during the
process of reunification with Russia.

While working in Kiev during the clashes, Sidyakin sustained a
gunshot in the leg but never stopped his LIVE broadcasting.

Marat Saicheko is a prominent photographer and a cameraman. He
used to work in hot spots Libya and Syria. In the West he is
primarily known as the first person who managed to take photos of
the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky while he was in prison.